2011 Best Year Yet for ShAFF, Sheffield Telegraph

It is reflecting a national trend with overall box office receipts for 2011 expected to be around 4 per cent higher than last year, but the Showroom reckons it has done even better with a 14% rise.

The year got off to a fine start with the release of The King’s Speech, one of the Showroom’s most successful films ever, which went on to worldwide success and swept the board at the 2011 Oscars.

Second only to the final Harry Potter movie as the most successful film of the year across the country, The King’s Speech was the best performer of the releases that came to the specialist cinema on Paternoster Row which is supported with funding from Sheffield City Council and Cultural England.

The Showroom’s Top 10 reveals it has been a strong year for British film with no less than seven of them being British productions – and, with Tinker Tailor Soldier spy ranked second, suggests how popular Colin Firth is with cinema-goers.

As well as more commercial fare, the Showroom always offers a diverse range of films, screening smaller independent and foreign-language films that may not be screened anywhere else in the city. This was its remit when it opened in 1993.

Continuing this policy, a hand-picked selection of 2011 releases will be given a second run between Christmas and New Year. These films do not appear in the Top 10, or even the Top 20 in terms of box office sales, but they are critically-acclaimed films which the Showroom has given its stamp of approval. Running from December 26-30 will be Animal Kingdom, A Separation, Incendies, Poetry, and Tomboy.

Another essential aspect of the Showroom are the festivals and special seasons it programmes. This year saw the return of Showcomotion: Young People’s Film Festival in May and the nationally-renowned Doc/Fest which moved from its usual November slot to take place in June. It was also best year yet for both the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival and Celluloid Screams Horror Film Festival. This month, the Showroom even invited a cherished regular cinemagoer, nonegenarian Dr Clifford Shaw, to select his favourite films to share.